What happened
The Belgian industrialist Édouard Empain came to Egypt in 1904 and built a new city in the desert outside Cairo – Heliopolis. For himself he built, between 1907 and 1911, an extraordinary reinforced-concrete residence modelled on Angkor Wat and the temples of Odisha, decorated with statues of elephants, snakes, the Buddha, Shiva and Krishna. Cairenes called it the “Hindu Palace.” Rumours soon gathered around it: people said the tower rotated to follow the sun, that the baron hid a sick daughter, and that she or his wife died falling from the tower – and that her ghost still wanders the empty halls. After the baron's death in 1929 and the 1952 revolution the palace was abandoned. Locals told of lights in the windows, furniture being moved and screams. In the 1990s young metal fans sneaked into the ruins, prompting loud accusations of devil worship. The state acquired the building in 2005, and after a restoration carried out with Belgium it became a museum.
Witnesses
Heliopolis residents, guards and the Egyptian press; the legends are repeated by guides and the media.
Explanations and hypotheses
There is no evidence that the baron's wife or daughter died tragically in the palace – these are rumours that grew around a mysterious, rarely opened house. The tower never rotated. The “satanic” rituals of the 1990s were in fact youth parties, and the uproar around them became part of a moral panic. Noises in an empty, ruined building are easily explained by wind, birds and bats. Since its restoration the palace has been one of Heliopolis's landmarks and a popular attraction.
Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.
Sources
- Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt) – Baron Empain Palace
- Middle East Eye – Myths and legends laid to rest as historic Egypt palace finally opens (2020)
- Scroll.in – When a Belgian baron built a 'Hindu palace' near Cairo
More: Wikipedia (en)